but our (2.) SINCERITY or carneftnefs confifts alfo in the fervent exercife of the affections: So St. Paul requires that we fhould be *fervent in fpirit, ferving the Lord. And Solomon in the name of God speaks thus, My fon, give me thine heart. It is the HEART which God efpecially requires in all the fervices of religion, and particularly in the offices of devotion: for without this our prayers are but as a founding brass and as a tinkling cymbal; not only not acceptable, but grating and provoking to the great God, to whom we fpeak. We are not only to know and mind what we fay in prayer, fincere defires are to go along with every petition, an affectionate thankfulness with every claufe of our praifes, and a devout reverence, and impreffions fuitable to what is faid, with every acknowledgment of the awful attributes of God therein. It is a mocking of God to pray for what we do not defire, and to give thanks for fuch things of which we have no confideration or esteem. God being the great judge and difcerner of fpirits, knows with what temper and inclination we come to him; and how can we expect he should beftow that upon us, which he knows we care not whether he does or no, many times what we had rather be without? As for inftance, we pray that God would not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Who can ever imagine any man to be in earneft in this request, that knowingly and needlefly runs himself into temptation every day; and though made confcious of his own weakness by repeated falls, will ftill be challenging, and wrestling ftill with an antagonist whom he has found too ftrong for him? He knows the Siren that has often charm'd him to his ruin, he owns his folly, pretends to repent of it, and change his meafures; but 'tis a vain pretence, while (with Solomon's young man void of understanding) he daily goes the way to her house, and ftill frequents her company. The love of wine, or the influence and example of his debauched companions, have betray'd him frequently to intemperance; he confeffes it, and refolves to grow fober and abftemious; yet runs into the fame fociety as often as he can have it, and one glafs leads him on to another, till his appetite has again overpower'd his reafon and his virtue. Does fuch a man indeed defire that God would keep him from fin, when he fo apparently delights in the tempta tion? Or that God would preferve him from temptation, when he himself wantonly plays with it, nay, even seeks it out, and tempts the tempter? If therefore the grace of God does not (according to the letter of his prayer) preserve him from temptation, and deliver him from evil, it is not that God refuses. to hear him, or denies his requeft; but because his affection not going along with the words, he does not really defire this, and confequently it is not his request, he does not pray for it; and though he may fay the Lord's-Prayer twenty times in a day, he may thank himself, if nevertheless he falls into grievous fins, and is overcome by many temptations: For his heart, as well as his voice, muft join, or God will not regard him. Did we but impartially examine into the ftate of our affections, and compare our prayers and our conduct together, 'tis to be fear'd much of the like fincerity would appear in other inftances, which I have not time to mention. But furely at the very moment we are putting up petitions to God, one tranfient thought upon each of them before we utter them, will tell us whether we are in earnest or no. 'Tis casy to think with my self, whether I do indeed defire this thing which I am about to afk: If I find I do not, 'tis in vain to afk it; and if I do, my affections may be be faid to go along with my petition. This method I would feriously recommend, that our prayers may be a deliberate act of the heart, and of the judgment, as well as of the tongue. And by what I have infifted on, it will appear, that by the affections, I do not mean that forced fervency, which is rather a straining and working up of the paffions; nor that mere warmth of imagination and fancy, on which fome people lay the ftrefs of all devotion, but a regular, folid, rational, and fincere defire of what we pray for, which may take place in the mind without extravagant raptures, and affected tones and postures. Thus much for that fincerity or earnestness, which is one branch of importunity in prayer. THE fecond thing imply'd in importunity in prayer, is continuance, or perfeverance. To this St. Paul excites the Theffalonians; *Pray without ceafing, in every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God concerning you. And the Philippians alfo; Be careful for nothing, but in every thing, by prayer and Supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the fame Apostle defcribing to the Ephefians the chriftian armour, with which he would have them always guarded and in readiness, adds in the close, as a material part of it, Praying always, with all prayer and fupplication, and watching thereunto with all perfeverance. And our Saviour here implics the fame thing, by the repetition of his command, fo often, in a variety of words, Afk, feek, knock; that is, pray frequently, or continue praying, with an unwearied diligence. Now let us fee what is included in the perfeverance, to which these and many other places of Scripture prefs us. * I Theff. v. 17. † Phil. v. 17. Eph. vi. 13. (1.) Ir (1.) Ir imports an habitual difpofition to pray, and this implies an inwrought habit of fearing, loving, and honouring God: For as the nature of prayer is defcribed, in general, to be an intercourse or converfation of the foul with God, that intercourse can never be carry'd on without honourable and worthy thoughts of God; and he that has that fenfe of God truly, will have it habitually; and he that has it habitually, will exert it frequently. Such a foul will afcend to God upon all occafions, and by often returns and emotions; and this fenfe of the duty reconciles thofe expreffions in Holy Scripture, of praying always, and continuing inftant in prayer, not only to a poffibility, but to cafinefs and familiarity: For the foul of a man is quick and agil, it can enter the courts of heaven abftractedly, and offer a thousand petitions, while the body is but dreffing and preparing for the temple; and there is no honeft affair in the world, how laborious and troublefome foever, that can hinder this fpiritual commerce. (2.) PERSEVERANCE in prayer, implies likewise a fervency of more fet and folemn applications to God, at all proper opportunities, and on all occafions; we either want or receive fomething at his hands continually, our fouls and bodies, our eftates and employments, our families and relations, the ftate of the Church, or that of the public, afford us matter enough every day we live, to apply our felves to God by fupplications, or by praifes. Morning and evening is the leaft we can think our felves obliged to. *It is a good thing, fays holy David, to give thanks unto the Lord, and to fing praifes unto thy name, O thou most High, to fhew forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. Even the times of our cating, the re *Pfal. xcii. I, 2. turns turns of our flated meals, require us to pray for a bleffing on the food he gives us, and to praise him for it, according to the example of our bleffed Lord himself, who always did fo, when he fate down to eat. And befides thefe fix'd and conftant occafions, the accidents we fee, and the accidents we hear of our fickness, our health, our encrease, or our loffes, our fpiritual ftate, our converfation, and our business, and our recreation; these all call upon us to call upon God very frequently, either to deprecate his difpleasure, or to beg his affistance; to implore his grace, or to own his providence, and to praife his goodness, and he that does this may be faid to pray continually. Thus far a man may proceed privately; but because prayer is likewise a public act of religion, and that God requires we fhould honour him before men, and in the face of the world, therefore are we obliged, (3.) To neglect as few opportunities as is poffible, of affembling our felves publicly to worship God with united fouls, and combined and conjugated affections, affifting and enflaming one another. The Church has appointed a daily fervice for the worship of God in public, which has been practifed from the very first beginning of the christian religion, by the Apoftles themselves, and the primitive Chriftians. The Jews had stated hours of daily prayers, and the Apostles and first believers reforted to the temple at thofe hours; fo it is faid of St. Peter and St. John, that they went up into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And there is nothing more manifeft in the writings of the antient Chriftians, than that they obferved ftated times of public worship daily and nightly too: for during the ages *Mat. xiv. 9. Mat. xv. 36. Luke xxiv. 30. of per |